Tourlestrane emerge in south battle

Curry 0-9 Tourlestrane 3-16

Tourlestrane secured second place in Division One, Group One of the Minor league last Thursday evening when they strolled to a comprehensive over south Sligo neighbours Curry at Curry.

This one-sided tie was decided in the final quarter of the game when the winners really asserted their dominance, in what was a hard-hitting affair.

Indeed, the complexion of the encounter could have been much different were it not for the excellent display of Tourlestrane goalkeeper Adam Broe, who thwarted a number of Curry goal chances over the hour.

The winners, who have no less than six members of the Sligo Minor squad within their ranks, were well served by Liam Gaughan who supplied 1-7, while Darren O’Hara and Conan Marren were among the other notable performers for Tourlestrane. Gaughan’s goal came from the penalty spot – Conan Marren was hauled down in the area, and thus the penalty was awarded which Gaughan duly converted.  

For Curry, it has been a difficult league campaign where they lost all three of their group games, but with Aaron Kearns and other talented players within their ranks, they will remain formidable opponents for anyone in the upcoming championship campaign.

St Farnan’s and Owenmore Gaels are the other teams in the group – they finished first and third respectively. On the other side of the competition in Group Two, St Mary’s are the pacesetters with Tubbercurry/Cloonacool, St Molaise Gaels and Shamrock Gaels the other teams. The final round of games in Group Two are scheduled for this Thursday.

 U-14 thriller finishes level

St Farnan’s 1-14 Coolera/Strandhill 2-11

After an excellent hour of action, St Farnan’s and Coolera/Strandhill’s meeting in Division One of the under-14 league finished in a draw last Friday evening in Templeboy.

This cracking tie contained plenty of notable displays from a number of players on both sides, with St Farnan’s left disappointed not to have won the game having conceded a late point to leave matters level.

The home side played well throughout and started brightest, with Eoin Gordon’s fifth minute goal helping his side into 1-2 to 0-1 lead after only five minutes of play.

Coolera/Strandhill, who were physically superior around the middle third, soon found their feet and when Stephen Lynch found the net in the 12^th minute following an impressive team move, they were right back in the game.

They pressed on following this score with three points, the best of which came from the boot of Ciaran Flynn, to fire themselves into a three point lead (1-2 to 1-5). The hard-working Fionn Connolly responded for St Farnan’s but Jack Luke Kenny goaled for the visitors after 21 minutes to re-assert their dominance.

To their credit, St Farnan’s reduced the deficit to three points by the end of the half, thanks to three late scores from Cathán Hallinan and Thomas Cawley (2).

St Farnan’s carried their late dominance into the early stages of the second half and pointed three times soon after the resumption, with Thomas Cawley and Fionn Connolly (2) the men on target.

The impressive Keelan Harte responded for Coolera/Strandhill from a free, but two further Thomas Cawley points and a David Hallinan effort eased St Farnan’s into a two-point lead.

Cawley pointed two further scores for St Farnan’s over the closing stages but Keelan Harte, Lee Wilson, Aidan Daly and Odhran McDonagh registered points for Coolera/Strandhill to rescue a draw.

St Farnan’s: Tommy Gallagher; Adam Kilrehill, Mark McDermott, Niall Hallinan; Shane Molloy(0-1), David Hallinan(0-1), Shane Scott; Fionn Connolly(0-3), Cathán Hallinan(0-1); Brian McShane, Paul Clarke(0-1), Thomas Cawley(0-7, 4fs); Conor McNamara, Eoin Gordon(1-0), Cian Clarke.

Coolera/Strandhill: Cian Connell; Jack Murphy, Lee Wilson (0-1), Jack Molloy; Donagh Flynn (0-2), Fiachra Staunton, Ciaran Flynn (0-1); Keelan Harte (0-3, 3fs), Odhran McDonagh (0-1); Jack Luke Kenny (1-0), Josh Gilligan (0-1), Cormac Murphy; David Dunleavy, Stephen Lynch (1-0), Kyle Stanley (0-1). Subs used: Aidan Daly (0-1)

Referee: Rory Dillon

 Expert Electrical Sligo Football U-16 Division Three League

 Bunninadden 4-21    St Molaise Gaels 6-6

Kieran Tighe

Bunninadden got back to winning ways in the U16 Division Three with a 9-point win over St Molaise Gaels in Bunninadden community park on Monday 13^th April but were made fight hard in the end after a great comeback from the visitors.  Bunninadden duo Barry Cafferkey and Cian Brett scored 4-15 between them in a powerful display of shooting.

St. Molaise Gaels opted to play with the breeze in the first half and got off to the best start possible after a minute of play when Aaron Currid got on the end of a long ball into the full forward line and placed the ball in the bottom right corner from on rushing goalkeeper Joe O’Dowd.

Bunninadden midfielder Cian Brett got the first score of the game for the home side with a well-taken free off the ground before a minute later Gaels midfielder Caoileann Carty struck a well hit point after a turnover from Currid.

Bunninadden ‘keeper O’Dowd worked the short kick out system well with Colm Doddy, Barry Cafferkey and Keith Hodgins working tirelessly to win possession. Both sides then traded scores with Brett and Currid both scoring two each. Cafferkey started then to come into the game midway through the first half and his hard running through the centre was causing the away team lots of problems which allowed Conor Murray and Keith Frain to find space to take their scores.

Cafferkey added three consecutive points to make it 0-8 to 1-3 in favour of the home side. The last ten minutes saw Brett really dominate in midfield and his deep running was rewarded when he blasted the ball to the net from the 21 metre line. A further two points from Brett left the home side with a 7-point lead.  Molaise though fought back when substitute John Lenehan scored a minute after being introduced and forward John Peter Gallagher managed to tap-in an effort from Currid’s fisted attempt.

The second half began well for Bunninadden as Brett and Cafferkey continued to show a fine display of shooting with long range left and right footed scores. Doddy continued to graft in midfield and sent a defence splitting pass into Sean McManamy who laid off to Cafferkey to get the first of his hat-trick. Cafferkey then went on two mazy runs before putting past the Molaise keeper twice.  Currid added two scores of his own but Bunninadden defence were solid outerwise working the ball well out from the back. 

The game then took a dramatic twist from the 50th minute when Molaise struck four goals in four minutes to reduce Bunninadden’s lead to 3 points. 3 goals from Carty and 1 from Currid . Currid then had a great chance to level the game but saw his shot go inches to the left of O’Dowds post. Bunninadden to their credit again picked it up a gear and further scores from Gorman (2), Doddy (2) Cafferky and Ronan Mc Donagh put the contest to the bed.

Bunninadden:  J.O’Dowd; E.Killoran, M. Gorman; S.McManamy, K.Hodgins, C.Murray; C.Brett,  C.Doddy; K.Frain, B.Cafferky, J. Whitehead; N.Skelly, R.McDonagh

St. Molaise Gaels: S.O’Flynn B.West, R.Ryan; L.Brennan, Tohill, O.Brady; J.Spellman C. Carty, J. O’Connor J.Owen, C. McBrian, M.Gilmartin A. Currid, J.P Gallagher Subs: C. Burke, S.Lockhart, S.Ballintin, J.Lenehan